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Less than an hour before missing a technical deadline that would force a state government shutdown this weekend, the budget committees in both chambers advanced a budget plan for fiscal year 2024.
Though no documents were available for review as the committees reconvened after 11 p.m. Wednesday, a bill was introduced as a $54.3 billion budget.
In the Senate, Republicans called into question whether the document even existed in full yet though the bill was advanced along party lines. The committee chair, Sen. Paul Sarlo, was not present for the vote.
Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, pointed out that as the vote was called no budget was available, just a seemingly incorrect synopsis prepared by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
“The public is starving for accountability and transparency and where are either of these things at this time?” he asked.
Testa went on to question Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, who was chairing the meeting, and Senate President Nick Scutari if the Democrats had seen the full budget because the only budget documents available were score sheets that were rumored to be incorrect.
"We've seen the full budget document," Scutari said. "Accuracy is in the eye of the beholder."
Republican Budget Officer Sen. Declan O’Scanlon acknowledged that while it might sound like he and his Republican colleagues are whining, the “budget number put on the record is $1 billion more than the score sheets.”
“We are now 26 minutes away from shutdown and we’re asking for real numbers. We asking for accountability,” he said.
Ruiz fought back though, acknowledging that in her 10 years on the committee she hasn’t seen the other party vote in favor of the budget.
As the session was adjourned, O’Scanlon asked his Democratic counterparts when the budget would be available. He was ignored. He later called the process a “[expletive]show.”
The committees initially met on Tuesday but had to recess after 8 p.m. with the plan to reconvene Wednesday because the budget was not finished at that time. The committees reconvened Wednesday afternoon to vote on other business before settling in for a long wait for the budget.
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June 29, 2023 at 11:14AM
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State government shutdown narrowly averted though budget details unclear - NorthJersey.com
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